THE FOOTSCAPE

What do you think is its aesthetic appeal?
It looked radically different and if you have tried them and they fit (running shoes are prescriptive), they are amazingly slipper-like. I think their simplicity really comes through. There are a minimum of layers. Again, it’s the context. They jump compared to the visual cacophony inherent in other running shoes. I think the nature of aesthetics is such that we are attracted to the different. Here’s my Ali G logic: imagine you can be with Elizabeth Hurley (and we all know she is amazing), but after a few years you are used to her beauty so when Cameron Diaz shows up you're like, ‘Who is that? She is so beautiful!’ And you’re off chasing Cameron, even with her acne.

I loved the colourways that were chosen for those first series. They were nothing like what you expected from a Nike running shoe of that era; the black/red Fall colourway after the blue/grey first colour, then the Mystic Teal (best colourway name ever and that was just the men’s). Did you have much input to the colours?
I agree with you, the Mystic Teal is nice. I proposed colours and I liked simple, almost like VW-new-beetle-simple, but Nike has a big department dedicated to exploring the colourways. Marketing approves the final deal. Also, colourways are unique for different geographic regions. I think the later releases were more adventurous.

Nike’s used the Footscape for striking press ads launching that year’s range, was that the first time you got external feedback that this could be a ‘special’ shoe?
Man, I totally want to see what you have seen. The ones in the US were just a beauty shot of a single shoe.